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University of St. Thomas Snubs Archbishop

On October 25, the board of the University of St. Thomas voted to change its bylaws so that the incoming archbishop of St. Paul-Minneapolis would no longer automatically serve as its ex-officio chairman.

In 2008, Archbishop Harry Flynn will retire. His replacement, coadjutor Archbishop John C. Nienstedt, is well-known to be more conservative than Flynn.

Before the change, the University of St. Thomas bylaws stated the archbishop of St. Paul-Minneapolis was automatically the board chairman. The vicar general automatically became vice-chairman, but that bylaw was also changed.

The board’s first elected chairman — notice this — is none other than Archbishop Flynn, who will serve a five-year term, several years into Archbishop Nienstedt’s stay. The present vicar general, Rev. Kevin McDonough, was elected vice-chairman.

That Flynn would accept the chairmanship after the board acted to deny his successor a place on the board is remarkable. One would think he would have rejected the offer to avoid giving the appearance of being complicit in anything embarrassing to Nienstedt.

A spokesman for St. Thomas, Doug Hennes, denied that the action of the board was intended to prevent the new archbishop from having influence at the university. Hennes told the Minnesota Monitor, “One concern has been that the ordinary of large dioceses such as ours typically chair so many boards and have so many demands on their time that it is often difficult to be actively involved as university board chairs.”

He also confirmed that the change in the bylaws began in February, only a few months after Nienstedt, then bishop of New Ulm, Minnesota, was selected by Benedict XVI to replace Flynn. The archdiocese tried to downplay the controversy while asserting the prerogative of Archbishop Nienstedt to serve on the St. Thomas board.

Speaking for the archdiocese, Dennis McGrath commented, “While I can’t speak for Saint Thomas, it sure seems logical that Archbishop Nienstedt, after becoming head of the archdiocese, should be elected to the board.” {mospagebreak}

Atwood’s novel is a feminist screed against Christianity in general, and Catholicism in particular. Its setting is a United States taken over by Christian fundamentalists who force women to do nothing but serve their husbands and bear children.

The chair of the common text committee, Prof. Amy Muse, explained the choice of The Handmaid’s Tale to the campus newspaper: “We are not looking for a text that will reproduce you, but for a text that will redefine you.”

In other words, Professor Muse and her committee did not want to choose a book that would confirm the Catholic faith of St. Thomas freshmen, but rather a book that would “redefine” them according to feminist ideology.

Kersten connects the choice of The Handmaid’s Tale with the decision of the board to change their bylaws. Nobody on the board raised any objections to the choice of Atwood’s anti-Catholic novel: “But far from raising questions about the professors’ determination to lead St. Thomas boldly back to the 1960s, the trustees seem to be going along.”

Hilary White at LifeSiteNews.com notes differences in approach between Nienstedt and Flynn over the issue of homosexuality. Nienstedt opposes the homosexual political movement, while Flynn was named by homosexual political activists as one of the United States’ four most “gay friendly” bishops.

The board, staff, and faculty at St. Thomas may have good reason to think that Nienstedt would not be entirely happy with some of their academic choices. According to Ex Corde Ecclesiae, the Apostolic Constitution on Catholic Universities, “If problems should arise concerning the Catholic character, the local bishop is to take the initiatives necessary to resolve the matter, working with the competent university authorities in accordance with established procedures and, if necessary, with the help of the Holy See” (5.2).

Whether he is on the board or not, Archbishop Nienstedt will be the ordinary of the University of St. Thomas. It’s a pity that St. Thomas chose to roll up the welcome mat for the new archbishop rather than roll it out.

Deal W. Hudson is president of Catholic Advocate, an organization which engages and encourages faithful Catholics to actively participate in the political process to support elected officials and policies that remain consistent with the teachings of the Catholic Church.
Formerly publisher and editor of Crisis Magazine for ten years, his articles and comments have been published widely in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, and U.S. News and World Report. He has also appeared on TV and radio news shows such as the O'Reilly Factor, Hannity & Colmes, NBC News, and All Things Considered on National Public Radio.
Hudson worked with Karl Rove in coordinating then-Gov. George W. Bush's outreach to Catholic voters in 2000 and 2004. In October 2003, President Bush appointed him a member of the official delegation from the United States to attend the 25th anniversary celebration of John Paul II's papacy.
Hudson, a former professor of philosophy for 15 years, is the editor and author of eight books. He tells the story of his conversion from Southern Baptist to Catholic in An American Conversion (Crossroad, 2003), and his latest, Onward, Christian Soldiers: The Growing Political Power of Catholics and Evangelicals in the United States, was published in March 2008.
He is married to Theresa Carver Hudson, also a Baptist convert, and they have two children, Hannah, 21, and Cyprian, 13, who was adopted from Romania in 2001.